Home sweet home??

Well, the warm weather, is finally approaching. If it's over 50, at this point, I'll take it. Of course I will change my mind in about a month, I will want it warmer, ha ha. So now is the time, to clean up the yard, and get ready for the warm weather. This, coming from a gal who still has Christmas lights up on the house, and in a tree out in front of the house.  At Christmas, a friend came over, and offered to put them up. I told him, "well, I wasn't gonna put them up, since it's hard for me to get them down afterwards". He said "oh, don't be silly, I will help you" , and here I am. Lights still up. People are talking, I just know they are. I gotta get out the big ladder and climb up there and take them off of the gutters. And the tree? Ought to be fun. I am certainly hoping that I won't have a hard time with it, and also that I don't need to do much with the gutters. I need to rake up leaves. I live near some woods, and most of the people on my street, just take a wheelbarrell up to the woods to dump the leaves. I have 2 gardens to prepare, that used to be my parent's. One flowers, and the other for vegetables. Not to mention the pool we put in a few years back, and the big ol' RV in the back yard. I need to get that opened up, and ready for camping season. So I guess I have my work cut out for me. I have no idea how I am going to get all of this stuff done, plus run every day errands, and heaven forbid one of the kids gets sick and I have to go get them from school or something. When Hubby is deployed, I get to play the role of both the Wife, and the Husband. I will soon have to throw in lawn care in to the mix, probably by next month. Ugh. How on earth am I to do this???!!!

I remember when our now almost 13 yr old Patrick was born, my Husband had to go "TDY" after just a few weeks after having the baby.We lived on the base at the time, in housing.  One afternoon, I got a knock on the door. It was someone in uniform, with a slip of paper. He informed me that I did not have any mulch around the tree in front of my house. I said ok, when my husband returns from TDY the following week, I would tell him. He said "No Ma'am, this has to be taken care of now". I said "but I just had a baby, I am not supposed to be lifting anything heavy or doing heavy work for a few more weeks". He said that I needed to figure it out, but I had to get it fixed NOW.  I was like "Are you kidding me?" Mulch. around a tree. Like I gave a hoot! So that afternoon, I packed up my newborn and my daughter and a shovel, and a box or something to put it in, and went to collect the mulch from the spot that the military provided it for residents of base housing. I shoveled, loaded it up, took it home and put it around the stupid tree. I could not believe this. I was irate, hot, tired, and sore. The baby was crying, but I had to get this done. NOW. See, after (I think) 3 write ups in a month, you could get evicted from the base military housing. We were new there. I didn't know a lot of people. And I did not want my Husband to get in to trouble.
The military wants their base looking "just so"... and if your yard "sticks out" or what have you, they're gonna let you know. I got written up once for having too many outdoor toys on my front porch. For not taking the trash barrells off of the curb in time. For not keeping the trash barrells in the garage. For lawn that was getting too high. For weeds in the bushes. You name it, we were written up for it. So I guess I am glad that they aren't around me now, ha ha, I definately would have been written up for these darn Christmas lights!!! LOL!

Living on the base also has it's perks, however. You are surrounded by other military families, who know first hand, exactly what you are going through. You develop a life-long friendship with many of these folks, and we "cover each other's backs" when needed.  It is a friendship, like I cannot describe. We have so much in common. We know how it feels when our spouses deploy. We know how hard it is, and try to help. We know when the spouse is gone, you need a break so we take the kids, or cook a meal. Or just call to check up on one another. Hopefully, everyone has atleast one friend whom they can count on like this. I would be lost without my friends, that's for sure.   Because we are in the Air Force, we are subjected to moves, or "PCS" which stands for "Permanent change of station". Sometimes the moves are "stateside", some times they are overseas. But it doesn't matter where you live, when it comes time to leave, and say goodbye to people who have lived around you for the past few years, that maybe you got close to in some way. It's one of the hardest things, to do, is to say goodbye to a friend, and you are not sure when you will see them again. Now a days, we have the internet, and "Skype" . I am thrilled, that we are still able to be connected in some way, after moving away from one another! So many people, some Military, some are not, have touched our lives in some way.
Atleast we have modern technology to help us stay connected! And I will definately say, that it is modern technology that is keeping me connected to my Husband while he is away. Because of the time difference, he will "Skype" me sometimes around 6:30 am. I don't know about you, but the last thing on my mind at 6:30 am is a video camera... but it's all I can get, so I take it. I usually look like "my morning self", and I have my coffee with me, and kids climbing on me to see and talk to their Dad. This Skype thing helps us out in sooo many ways, with coping while Daddy is gone. 
Yes, I know. I have gone from my gutters, to Skype... I can only imagine what you are thinking, wow- talk about a wandering mind! And all I can say is Yup- that's me!!  As the warmer weather approaches you, take advantage of it. Embrace the sunshine, the flowers, the leaves on the trees, the blue skies! And if that doesn't work for ya, you can always come by my place and help me with these darn lights and gutters.... :o)

Gimme a break !!

Well, it is a Friday, and it is also the day after we have discovered that Pat will be retiring from the Air Force soon. I have yet to speak to him about this, however we do communicate through emails at the moment. The time difference can take a toll on the communications!!

The boys get to be a handful quite often, and I am drained many days. Many nights are not with decent sleep, and the alarm clock rings when I feel as though I have just closed my eyes.  So here I am with 3 kids, sleep deprived, and they usually fight over something.

It's time for mom to try to get a night out. So, I find out there is a local scrapbooking crop at a nearby store. YAY! I LOVE scrapbooking!! So I sign up, I find a babysitter, and life is good ! I have something to look forward to! I think all morning long, about which pictures/project I want to work on.  By lunch time, I go online to check my email, and there it was. The email from the scrapbooking store. It read:
"Tonight's crop cancelled" . I was stunned. What?? Why??

As I read on, it stated that there was a lack of participation. I was thinking that perhaps I was the only one who signed up for this crop night? I don't know. Well, not that it matters anyways, they closed up at 7. I had no other plans. I was so bummed out. Scrapbooking is my outlet! I don't even care if I don't know anyone else- (my husband will tell you that I talk to anyone, so that never stops me). I go to these things by myself anyways. So, I relutantly called the sitter and cancelled. I was so bummed out. I just did not have any other plans for tonight, and I felt tired. So here I am, the kids will be in bed soon (hopefully). They have fights, oh, about maybe once an hour, over various things... enough to drive me crazy.  I just wished that my night out would have worked out. It isnt like I go out often... and yes, I can scrapbook at home, however it isn't always easy with 3 kids wanting to steal your tools and supplies, and distracting you, and what have you. So, I guess, better luck next time. 

I hope that the next crop will be more popular, and hopefully it won't be cancelled. This particular place offers it twice monthly on Friday nights, and I think once a month on Sundays. I haven't been to the Sunday crop yet, as I take my kids to church on Sundays. By the time we get out of church, the crop is more than halfway over. I may as well forget about it. I wish that there were more options available to me in the area. Not a lot of scrapbooking places around. Even Michael's Arts & Crafts store stopped their scrapbooking crops! Geez I feel like I can't win !!  Oh well, better luck next time.

The test results are in...

The test results are in... and as some of you may already have heard, Pat did not make it to the next rank.  He remains a Master Sergeant, which is still nothing to sneeze at. He has worked hard and diligently in his Air Force Profession, and we are so very proud of him. He has had many accomplishments and achievements along the way, and has exceeded his goals of where he wanted to be at this point in his life (career-wise). I am a very supportive wife, or atleast I try to be. Sometimes, things happen that we have no control over. Like deployments. This time is actually easy compared to the last time he was shipped off. That was a long time ago, and I know and realize how Blessed we really are, that he has not been deployed more often. I am so thankful.

 Back in 1999, he was told on a Friday, that he was leaving for an "undisclosed location" and was gone the very next day. I had no idea where he was, what he was doing, was he in harms way? The anxiety just about killed me. Here I was living on the base at home, wondering what was going on with him. The Air Force was doing what they call "Base exercises" which is a solid week, sometimes more, of exercises to prepare in the event of a disaster. All personnell must participate. Long days, long nights. In the years that Pat was home for these exercises, we would get the 3AM phone calls, off of the "recall roster" and sometimes he had to report in, sometimes he needed to call the next troop on the list. Anyways, it was during this big exercise that a major anxiety attack happened to me, I was taken to the Emergency Room by a friend who had to leave his position at the exercise. I felt so bad, so guilty. The Hospital hooked me up to EKG's, and all this stuff, and determined that it was anxiety (which I was telling them the entire time I was there) and prescribed anti anxiety medication, and sent me along my way.

Back to the current day, he is now knowing that he will be retiring soon from the Air Force. Pat has been Active Duty for so long (by the time he retires, it will be close to 25 yrs), he does not know anything but Air Force. He does not have experience with "The civilian sector" .   He is used to doing things the Air Force way, and that includes wearing his Uniform each day, etc...  So this will be a huge adjustment for Pat, once he returns to "the States" from Korea.  I am sad that he did not make it to Senior Master Sergeant. I think he deserves it, he worked hard for it, and I know that he did his best to achieve it. But at the same time, I am happy that we are not having to move again. I really did not want to, but if that is what we had to do, I was willing to go if we had to.  This is part of being in the Military, and I have been through this before, many a time with Patrick. However this time is unique, as it is at the end of his career. I have been with him for almost 16 years, and they usually take a test once a year, to go up in rank. So, needless to say, we have seen many tests come through. Some passed, some did not. We have congratulated friends and colleagues on their promotions as well.

The ceremony that is given when you put on a "new stripe" is usually done in fun... the troop stands there, and their families stand by their side with a paper version of the stripe badge to put on their arm. Then, (with cameras ready, of course) they tell you to put that new stripe on them, and you are supposed to punch them real hard in the arm right where the stripe goes! Of course, if it were a girl getting that stripe, I would hope it would be just a little tap or something. Now do you honestly think that I would let Sgt. Hunt get by with just a tap on the arm?? Heck NO! I would bash him in the arm for all that it's worth, and everyone would laugh and clap... that's how it's done!  LOL...

I totally congratulate all those that did make it to their next ranks with the USAF (and all other branches, as well). You worked hard, and you deserve it, congrats!! I commend each of you for your dedication, hard work, your accomplishments, and your willingness to put your country before yourself.

Parenthood...

Being alone with my kids, can be challenging, to say the least. Not a day goes by, when I don't have to argue and fight with one of them. Sometimes they take turns as to who acts up, and if I get more than one kid at the same time, well then, it's my lucky day, isn't it! We have a 12 yr old son who is now taller than I am. He is at least 5'6", and is skinny as could be. The kid eats and eats, and I have no idea where it goes.
 He has a seizure disorder, and in order to get his seizure meds in to him, I put it in ice cream. Each day, this kid eats Ice cream. Like- the real, ice cream. Not low fat, not sherbet, not fat free, the real deal. I could not imagine what would happen if I ate ice cream every day- I would be soooo overweight! Heck- I'm overweight without doing that. Once he turns 15 or 16, I guess we'll have to re-mortgage the house, just so we can feed him and his brothers! ha ha. Three boys when they are teenagers??? OHHH Boy are we going to be in for it!!







I am always feeling as though the boys do not listen to me, and I can usually prove that, by simply asking them what I had just said to them. I just get that "deer in the headlights" look.


I struggle on most days, to help them with their homework, and also to get them off to school on time. Ok, I just plain ol' struggle. In about everything that I have to do, along with keeping this house standing and cooking, laundry, dealing with pets, etc- Lord knows what each day will throw at me. Most days go without major events, and I know that if I were to sit, and actually THINK about all that I have to do, I would get so depressed. I am always so busy; I barely have time for myself. The best way to handle it, is to not sit and think about it. I naturally have to think about best ways to handle things, of course. What I am saying, is I don't want to dwell on how overwhelmed my life is at the moment. If I did that, I would be sad and depressed. I don't want to go there. When Pat first left, that is exactly what I did. I was miserable, I did not want to talk to anyone, and I did not want to go anywhere, or do anything. I just was miserable, and I cried all the time. What good will that do? None. Nothing. And my kids need a Mother. For me to sit around feeling bad for myself in my own little "pity party”, was not going to get me that "Mother of the Year award”. My kids needed attention, they were hurting also. Daddy didn't have a lot of choices, either he went to Korea and remained Active Duty, or he didn't, and he would have been retired, and, possibly unemployed. Who's going to pay the bills if Dad can't? So off he went, into the “Wild Blue Yonder”.

We are all struggling and fighting to survive. It's a day to day thing, and we have to try our best each day. Our best to be our best and to be happy and positive. I don't want to be like "Eeyore”, who is always glum.

I try to make plans, to keep things normal (or as close to it). We are still going to go camping, and still looking forward to future events that we hope to do. We look forward to our phone calls, and our "Skype" time with Daddy, even when it is at like, 6am because of the time difference. It's better than nothing! So, I have to have the attitude, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" or- even better, "When life gives you lemons, grab the tequila and salt!!"  I like a nice Margarita every once in a while, and I enjoy having fun with my friends and family. I don’t get out too often, and sitters are expensive.






When I do not feel too well, it can be really difficult to get through the days. It isn’t like I can just go and lay down… I have to feed the cherubs, and make sure homework is done, animals are fed, and daily household stuff done also. I have been blessed, that I haven’t been extremely ill since Pat left. A cold or something, but no throw up bugs that makes you just stay in bed. I am Blessed for that, and I am so grateful that it has not happened (knock on wood!). I don’t know what I would do if it did happen, I haven’t got anyone else living here to handle things if I am down and out. And so far, yes, the kids have had some viruses that I am so very glad to not have caught (again, knock on wood! LOL). Sometimes juggling the kids when they are sick is challenging also.






I strive to be a better Mother. I get angry and frustrated when they don’t listen to me. Or at least I think they don’t listen. I do tell them, “there’s 3 of you, and only 1 of me” often, and I get so overwhelmed sometimes. I try so hard to compliment the kids, and praise them on good work done. Do I accomplish this every day? I certainly try. I also know I get frustrated every day. And I try sooooooo hard to not show my frustration. Sometimes I have to just leave the room and say nothing. Parenthood, by far, is the hardest job I have ever known, and the pay is lousy.

The first 25 years are the hardest. At least I am told that. My daughter is almost 24, so I am not past this stage just yet. I have been through the Driver’s Ed, the dating scenario’s, (and how much she HATED me waiting up for her to get her butt home); I have survived getting those phone calls about car accidents, and so much more.

I am still alive, I have a lot of grey hair (covered up professionally, when I can get there), but in the end, I wouldn’t trade my kids in for the world, nor would I trade in my job as being their Mother. They are my everything…! I can’t imagine my life without them.